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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28887477">The dangers of sugar coating</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Choco_chips/pseuds/Miss_Choco_chips'>Miss_Choco_chips</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Everything is nice and nothing hurts [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types, DC Extended Universe, DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cassie Sandsmark is living her best life, Dick Grayson tries to be a good brother, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Imagine that, Jason Todd is a good brother, The chaotic power of those two working togheter tho, Tim and Damian being good siblings, Tim is tired and confused, she loves her dorks, this is what happens when you convince a teen crimefighter of the existence of Santa Claus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:40:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,969</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28887477</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Choco_chips/pseuds/Miss_Choco_chips</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dick tries to give his little brother nice things (and fucks up), Tim is paranoid (and too tired to think clearly), and Damian thinks they might actually be a good team (while they plot Santa Claus’ downfall).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bart Allen &amp; Tim Drake &amp; Kon-El | Conner Kent &amp; Cassie Sandsmark, Tim Drake &amp; Damian Wayne, Tim Drake &amp; Dick Grayson, Tim Drake &amp; Jason Todd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Everything is nice and nothing hurts [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118465</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>264</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The dangers of sugar coating</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I didn't remember that Santa was a real character in the DCU when I wrote this, but this was too funny to change, so here you go.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"Before I tell you anything, you need to promise me you won’t get mad."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Bruce of ten years ago, new to parenting and oblivious to its dangers, would have done his best to emulate any ‘How to be a good Dad- guide for new, utterly lost fathers’ book. Now, though, tired after raising Dick to semi-adulthood and still hurting over Jason’s… Jason, he knew better. Life had toughtened him up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So he didn’t raise his eyes from his newspaper, and gave into the urge of sipping his coffee before humming under his breath. Not even the slightest show of acceptance over those terms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If Dick was asking that, instead of hiding whatever this was or dealing with it himself, it meant the situation was either out of his control, bound to make its way to Bruce eventually, or both. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Probably both.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Come on, B, just promise you won’t get all passive aggressive bitch on me.I did it for the greater good..."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Another hum.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>However, Dick has spent the same amount of time learning under his guide than he had raising him, so the younger was bound to develop some of his own tactics.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"...and I did it because Tim obviously needed it, so…"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Warning bells ringing in his mind, Bruce gave up and shoot Dick a look. He didn’t seem overly guilty, so whatever this was, it probably wasn’t irreversible. But he was also shifting his weight from one leg to the other nervously, so… there was a catch here.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What did you do?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You didn’t promise."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I won’t take your allowance away, but I may yell. It depends on how convincingly you make your case", compromise, he had learned after many, many mistakes, was as good a plan as any. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Deal", then, quickly, like ripping off a bandaid: "I might have made Tim slightly more neurotic than he was. On accident."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The bells turned into firefighter’s sirens. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>What did you do?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They have had the fifteen year old living in the mannor for a few weeks at most. They couldn't possibly have already broken him, right?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Right?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dick winced, but sat down by Bruce’s left (the side closest to the dining room’s window), which meant this was the only issue, but a hard to explain one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You see… We were talking, bonding over childhood memories and stuff, and… you know how christmas is just around the corner, and I asked him about Santa. I mean, obviously he doesn’t believe in that now, but the thing is, he never did."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"He’s too smart for that", growled Bruce, impatiente to get to the point and figure out just how much damage control would he be doing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No, his parents were too shitty. They were never there on Christmas, so no gifts under the tree unless he put them there himself, and whenever that happened, it was because his parents sent them and he wrapped them himself. Also no surprises, because he was the one asking for specific stuff. And I got a little sad, because how can a kid never believe in Santa? Like, come on. It’s part of the concept of childhood innocence. So..."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bruce waited a few beats, but Dick didn’t follow up. See, this was the moment where his parenting books would suggest waiting until the kid was good and ready for sharing his thoughts. But, since this was his younger child at stake here, he couldn't allow himself the luxury of letting a single second go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So?", he prompted, as gently as he could, trying not to spook Dick into abandoning ship.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So I sort of… convinced him that Santa was real. Like, a full out super powered meta whose purpose in life was to bring joy to all of us. I texted Barbara and she planted some old looking reports on the batcomputer about it, to give credibility to the lie. I even drew parallels with Batman being thought of as a myth outside of Gotham to support the ‘Santa is real, people just don’t believe in him’ thing. And, after some hours of convincing and with Babs’ help, he bought it. So now, if Tim approaches you about it, you better back me up, because otherwise you would be ruining the last vestige of innocence Tim might still keep. Downside, though, Tim is now holed up in his bedroom searching the deep web for any Santa related info he can get his nerdy little paws on."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Silence in the room. Dick blurted out a goodbye and jumped out of the window. Bruce didn’t get up to check if he had landed safely on the other side. He probably had. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tired, he looked down at his coffee. Black, just like he needed it now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He should have stopped at zero children.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>----.----</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Cassie watched, with no small amount of unholy glee, as Tim thoroughly convinced both Kon and Bart of Santa’s existence. One a clone with little social understanding and the other from a very dark future, they were unsurprisingly easy to convince.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was the kind of hilarious shit that made being in a superhero team worth it. All the life and death situations were balanced out by this kind of drama-like absurdity.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even better was Tim’s completely fucked up perspective on the matter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So you’re saying Santa is not only real, but a deranged psychopath? Who’s probably both a pedofile and a mind controlling scumbag?", Kon tilted his head, both confused and esceptic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cassie did her utmost best to keep a straight face while nodding along, as if everything Tim had laid down in front of them made perfect sense. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I thought it was stupid, too. But Dick showed me evidence, old reports, both handwritten and digital, and I found footage of Santa sneaking into the Manor when he was still young, deeply buried in the Batcomputer mainframe."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Couldn’t that video be, you know… made up?", Bart asked, frown unusual on him firmly in place.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"If it was anywhere else? Sure. But this is </span>
  <em>
    <span>The </span>
  </em>
  <span>Batcomputer we’re talking about. Why would Batman have that kind of thing there? It was too heavily protected to be placed there as decoy for anyone hacking, not like they could ever get over Oracle’s firewalls. Besides, what reason would Batman have to invent this? I’m fifteen, I don’t need the ‘Santa fantasy’. The only believable answer is that Santa is real and very dangerous, and some people have taken his name for capitalism’s sake and made a holiday out of that and some religious backing, to get more people roped up into it. The true mastermind is obviously hiding somewhere out there, and the Christmas propaganda is merely a means to get funding for his devious plots."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Both metas hummed thoughtfully, Superboy even crossing his arms as he examined the pile of photos and papers Tim had laid out in front of them. Bart was nodding, hand cupping his jaw. The looked dead serious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cassie wanted to excuse herself to use the toilet (lead lidden because this was Gotham, specifically Tim’s secret place, so of course it was super-proof) so she could laugh her ass off, but the temptation of seeing this trainwreck to its fiery end was too strong. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was taking up all of her amazonian training to keep her straight face, though. Diana would be so proud.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I even searched the deep web for Santa related crimes, and looked up his name in disturbing forums. You wouldn't believe what some people, serial killers and rapists both, do using Christmas as a theme. I couldn't sort through it all, it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>sick."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kon looked utterly disturbed. "So what do we do now? Christmas is just around the corner!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bart got up and started pacing back and forth. "We need to hunt this dude down. Christmas is about goodness and family! We can’t let this, this… psychopath ruin it! Think about the children of the world!!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh god, this was getting even better.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"But how? The man sounds like a velocist of some kind, I mean, running and leaving gifts everywhere in the world in the span of a few hours? How are we even gonna catch him?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Maybe if we dress up as Elves?", Cassie couldn't stop herself from suggesting, voice choked in her effort to be serious, but most likely interpreted by the boys as clogged up on rage. "From what Tim wrote here", she raised a paper from the pile, hand shaking, "it looks like they are his mind-controlled slaves. If he thinks we ran from his captivity, he might take us to the North Pole with him to brainwash us again… Oh, but I probably shouldn't dress up, so you know, I can be back up if he manages to catch you three…"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That’s a great idea!", Bart’s skinny arms wrapped themselves around her neck, and she took the chance to hide her face in his mane of hair, corners of her mouth twitching up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Should I also record it?", she asks, almost begging. "In case people don’t believe us later, when we have to explain why we imprisoned Santa."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes, I think that might be wise", Tim conceded, eyes scanning his papers again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thank the gods. That tape was going to be Cassie’s most precious treasure </span>
  <em>
    <span>forever</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I think he has a way of controlling people’s minds too. Like, parents and stuff. And then he makes them be the ones to give his children gifts in his name, as a way of gaining their trust. Sick fucker."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So you think it’s a kinky thing for him?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Kon, he literally categorizes kids as ‘good’ or ‘naughty’."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You are right, we need to stop this bastard."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cassie loved her boys so, so much. She also owed Dick Grayson the biggest high five.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>----.----</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Red Hood was just lighting up a cigarette when he saw Red Robin making his way to his rooftop. Cursing, he dropped the entire thing and kicked it away. The brat knew Jason smoked, but Dick had been on his ass lately about being a good brother, and he still felt kinda bad about trying to kill the kid twice, so he was actually trying to set a good example. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Besides, out of the two possible little brothers to take under his wing, he certainly drew the lucky ticket, because while Dickie had gotten stranded with the pompous brat, Jason had the all around good kid circling his radar more often than not. Like, Tim had broken him out of prison, a little after Jason had done his best to end his life; he couldn't get more forgiving and nice than that. It certainly beat making a murder League child let go of his katana on a nightly basis.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I need your help."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He blinked. While they certainly had worked cases together in the past, they were always preluded by some kind of smalltalk,  little banter, at least a ‘hello’. Not this straight to the point bullshit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had the urge to take out his guns, to protect them both of any threat following Red Robin here. He refrained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What’s the matter, babybird? What’s wrong?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tim looked almost frazzled. The cowl was hanging around his neck, just a domino preserving his identity, and his hair was a knotted mess. Disveleshed was too little a word for his state.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"We need to make a plan to catch Santa Claus before Christmas this year. His reign of terror must end. It’s still not too late."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yeah, okay, he might need that cigarette after all, to hell with Dick’s bitching. Besides, how bad of a influence could that be, when this kid was obviously already on some kind of drugs? Like, Santa? Really?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What… do you mean?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What followed was an hour long rant on the dangers of a super powered, evil version of the myth that Tim had somehow cooked up on his mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Was this real? The kid looked far too distraught for a joke.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"… Does Nightwing know about this? -whatever ‘this’ was- Bats?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tim shook his hands frantically. Jason was legit getting worried.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"N was the one who told me about Santa", there, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew </span>
  </em>
  <span>this smelled like a Golden Boy trademark fuck up, "but he seems t o be under his spell. Bruce as well. They tried to convince me he is some kind of good-hearted samaritan. Jason", he stated, breaking the no names during patrol rule, a show of just how deep into the rabbit hole he was, "you wouldn't  believe what I found on the deepweb. Joker’s yearly special seems tame in comparison."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That, Jason could believe. But he was also fairly sure you could type about any word in the darkest side of the net, and find half a dozen kinky or deranged things that matched. Santa-temed crimes? More likely than anyone would believe. Real life Santa doing the deed? Not so much.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tim had been too young when Dick lied to his face, most likely. And nowadays, the young vigilante was running on three hours of sleep on a good week. And it wasn’t even too far fetched to believe, on their line of business, specially when dealing with metas and supervillains day in and day out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Still…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Kid, I don’t know how to tell you this, but… Santa isn’t real", he told him, slowly, hands raised as if to touch his shouldn’ts but not daring to actually make contact. Tim looked so manic he might actually nerve strike him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The icy blue eyes were hidden under his mask, but Jason knew from the way he tensed that Tim was terrified.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"He got to you, too", he whispered, almost too softly for him to hear. Then, without giving Jason the chance to inquire further, he turned tail and disappeared into the night.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>....</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He really needed that cigarette.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>----.----</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Drake told the family he was taking Damian under his wing for a case, everyone seemed so happy he couldn't just shoot the other man down. Besides, reluctant as he was to admit it, Red Robin was the superior detective in the entirety of the team, so there would be rewards for taking the blow to his pride and working with him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He expected to be directed through some easy case, maybe a little puzzling but not too challenging. Or be sidelined while Drake worked through things, so he could learn by example.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This, though, this he hadn’t foresaw.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This case was way more serious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"How come Father has allowed this depravancy to continue?!", exclaimed Damian, hands gripping the sheets of information tightly. "This ‘Santa’s’ influence has been permitted to cement on too many people already! And it keeps growing!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I know. Fuck, I know. But I can’t get anyone to help me. My team knows, but sadly we aren’t enough. Bruce and Dick don’t believe me, and neither does any other hero I contacted on the matter. It’s just like when B was missing in time; they either think I’m crazy, or try to sugarcoat things, like they would with a baby."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Damian snorted, disbelieving. Whatever his opinion might be on his predecessor, he at least knew to trust his insight in a case. Grandfather himself had recognized his genius on that field.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were on Drake’s perch, his center of operations outside of Batman’s influence. He would never admit it out loud, but if Damian ever needed his own batcave, it would be just like this one. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now, the long table in front of him was completely covered in information, case reports, photos taken from live footage, deepweb forums’ conversations, history books…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"And you say this… monster, targets children?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I mean, he brainwashes the parents too, but that seems like a plot to both increase his economic funds and to gain the children’s trust."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"How are you so sure they are his objective?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"The parents tell their children Santa is ‘always observing them’, and ask if they ‘have been good’ that year. If they aren’t perceived as obedient, Santa leaves them coal, which incentives them to do their best to change that by next year’s christmas."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Maybe the coal and gifts have mind control devices, or some magic?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"My thoughts exactly."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Damian frowns even deeper. He’s glad Drake is taking his detective training seriously, but if father himself is being deceived, he wonders what can the two of them (plus Drake’s team) do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What about Todd? Red Hood is proclaimed as Saint Protector of Children in Crime Alley, after all. He certainly has opinions about this ‘Santa’ person."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Timothy shakes his head. "He got Jason too. I suspect he’s been under his control ever since he was a child at the manor."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So, we are alone in this."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Essentially, yes. Thankfully, not everyone celebrates christmas. Some religions flat out forbid it, so we won’t have as much ground to cover when we lay out a trap. We could choose a close by location and plan around it."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He nods, back straight with purpose. He -and Drake, he supposes- would be freeing Father and Grayson, along with the rest of the victims, from this madman’s control. Maybe even Todd, if he has the time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I’m with you on this endeavor, Drake."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Good. Remember we need to act natural in front of the family. If Santa catches wind of what we’re doing, he might focus his efforts in getting to us."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Damian wants to say to let him come, he would show him why it's a bad idea to mess with his family. But Drake is, admittedly, the superior detective, and it seems he’s been working on this for a long time now. Damian will defer to his judgement this one time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Drake’s superior knowledge and Damian’s unrivaled training might be what’s needed to orchestrate this ‘Santa’s’ downfall.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They will be a good team, he thinks.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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